Software for communications such as video, audio or web conferencing, email and instant messaging, all include methods for notifying users of incoming calls and messages. These notifications, such as sound alerts, pop-up windows and/or blinking icons, are predefined and lack any flexibility to user's activity.
On the one hand, notifications are helpful to the user. On the other hand, however, such notifications, according to current practice, interfere and interrupt the user's current activity, especially when the number of corresponding communication systems linked to the computer increases. With incoming notifications, users are forced to change their attention from the area where they are working to a different window or area typically to the edge of the computer display to find out what the incoming correspondence is about. Such distractions are not only time consuming, they also require time, sometimes in the minutes, for users to switch their mental focus back-and-forth between the area where they were working or viewing and the area where the notifications was displayed. In addition, notifications appearing in a user's peripheral vision appear to be much more distractive due to the fact that peripheral vision is more sensitive to motion than the central area of vision (e.g. Palmer et al. (2006) entitled “A distinct anatomical network of cortical areas for analysis of motion in far peripheral vision” and published in Eur. J. Neuroscience 24(8):2389-2405). The present invention addresses these problems and advances the art by at least providing notification and reply solutions that are less distractive to users and increase work productivity.